Who is/isn't striking among the NUT members here?

[lifeissweet]

Facing a dilemma. My beliefs about unions are based on the fact that united we have a voice. People fought to have the right to unionise. If a union calls a strike, then I believe all members have a responsibility to stand up together. Otherwise, we come across as divided, not united and it weakens us all.

Not for a long, long time has the teaching profession been under so much threat and we need to be united now more than at any time. Our terms and conditions are facing changes which will make teaching a far less stable and desirable profession (and not really a profession at all if unqualified teachers are allowed to take classes all over the place).

However, I am currently the only member of staff at my school who is prepared to strike on Thursday. Half of the other staff are NUT. Lots of the support staff are in striking unions, yet no one is striking (including the NUT rep). The Head has told me that if I strike I will be the only one and that he will have to close only my class that day and keep the rest of the school open, so everyone will know it is only me withdrawing my labour and am I 'prepared to take the flak for that?'

I'm not sure I am, but I believe really strongly in supporting the union. The thought of ignoring deeply held principles and breaking a strike sit uncomfortably with me.

My DS's school is closed on Thursday. Other local schools are too.

So is it just my school where there are no striking staff at all? And if you are NUT, why are you not striking? Is it just so as not to disrupt end of year activities, or because you think striking isn't helping? (I don't, incidentally, but will vote with my feet on that one and change unions when this is done.) How do you square that with yourself?

Not preaching. People have all manner of reasons for not striking. I just think I want to feel a bit less out on a limb!

So Liz - stripping out the rhetoric - your model for the future is 'teaching as starter job', right? Total churn every two years?

Can you explain why this would work well in teaching but not in, say, law or dentistry?

Anyone who doesn't think that experience is valuable in teaching is an idiot.

I sympathise with the poster, but haven't gone on strike for many, many years, because it is counter -productive; see yesterday's press for comments. The Head is perfectly right in explaining the situation, and the Union Rep who does not strike is perfectly within his/her rights.
That said, there are many things to be done, not least, speaking out in staff meetings. How many staff do you know who complain loudly in private but never open their mouths in meetings?
Refuse to do dinner duty, paid or unpaid; unions fought long and hard to stop doing it, now teachers are falling over themselves to cover.
Don't run after-school clubs;
don't go on school trips organised at weekends and holidays;
don't answer parent emails unless in directed time.
Complain loudly about TAs covering for absent teachers and make sure parents understand they are untrained and unqualified.
If you are in an academy this may be very difficult, up to the point where your job is in jeopardy.
This may make you think about alternative careers; the world is your oyster nowadays, far removed from the time when the only career options open to women were nursing, teaching and secretarial work.

Goblin that would cause more damage so most teachers won't agree.

people who have done" proper work" , every time please. Because then they would realise how good the salary, and conditions of service are,
Teachers go on strike claiming it's about the future of education when all they really want is more money and to cling on to a gold plated pension which the country can't afford.
Don't they realise....it is not the Government's money...it's my/our money and I don't want my taxes going up so teachers can have more money.
This Government was democratically elected as was Michael Gove ( by his constituents). So the poster upthread who said he isn't elected is lying, or stupid or both.
If teachers really cared about education, or the children or the parents they would not strike.

I have done "proper work"

If I was working ATM I would be on strike

Am with MrsThelate, dds schools chock full with bright you g things, dedicated, full of enthusiasm and all at school yesterday! As a parent, am delighted, as a taxpayer also.

Lots of teachers were in school yesterday as only one teaching union was striking this time. That doesn't mean that they are happy with what is going on in education.

Of course. Am not always happy with my career conditions, salary but that's life. If it gets too much, i should leave. V unclear what exact aims of strike were.

our teachers already have less experience than other countries, and this was flagged up a few weeks ago as a contributory factor in poor classroom behaviour

Swift, your kids are primary, right? Are you sure you'll be so happy in secondary when your kids are taught core subjects by unqualified teachers?

I don't think teachers are underpaid tbh and I think you will rarely hear a teacher say as much. In under 10 years I achieved around 50K. However I do think that the pension makes up for the lower wages that top graduates could earn else where. Even at my top wage I was still earning 50% of my previous wage with no free travel weekends away etc. I also think that the workload can be excessive.

One dd at each. All qualified teachers. Look open to being persuaded, if there's a clear, valid reason to strike but that is not my understanding. Message coming through has bern muddled- upset sbout changes/conditions. Not v specific.

If I was working I would have striked because I think the profession is becoming less attractive to top graduates. I think posters have a point when they say that careers need not last 40 years anymore but I think we should be aiming for at least 10, probably around 15-20. It worries me the number of teachers leaving within the first five years.

How do you know they are qualified? And are they actually qualified in the subjects they teach? If so, that's rare. And becoming more rare.

Really? On what do you base that?

highjumper
"This Government was democratically elected as was Michael Gove ( by his constituents). So the poster upthread who said he isn't elected is lying, or stupid or both."

Show me where gove was elected to minister of education, Show me where he applied for his job and on what basis he got the job.

The truth is that you can't because he wasn't.

"With regards maths in particular, the clinching statistic appears to be that "up to 30 per cent of maths places on PGCE teacher training courses due to start in September remain unfilled, potentially leaving schools 700 recruits short next year." It is claimed that "every missing maths teacher meant 150 secondary school pupils would be taught the subject by a non-specialist, putting 100000 pupils at risk of receiving their education from someone who has no specialist maths training." (2013)

matheminutes.blogspot.co.uk/2013/08/what-came-first-chicken-or-desperate.html

"Many trainee maths and science teachers do not have good degrees in their subject, a study suggests.

While nine in 10 classics trainees and almost four-fifths of would-be history teachers have a first or 2:1 university degree, this falls to around half for maths and science trainees."

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2024734/Only-half-maths-science-teachers-good-degrees-jobs.html

"Less than half of maths teachers in England's secondary schools have a degree in the subject, despite a massive recruitment campaign."

news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/7433339.stm (this was 2008)

Hmmm ok bbc but dodgy blogspot and daily mail citations?!!
Maths teacher shortage not news, think RE and science also hard to recruit to. Still, a good sch will still grt decent teachers, my dd's for one is a maths graduate from redbrick uni.

I'm sure you could look up the DfE figures.

And has your DD got the same teacher next year and for every year of her school career? You'd better hope so. And for your next dd.

My good school is struggling to recruit qualified maths teachers. Every school is struggling to recruit qualified maths teachers.

Are you so sure you're happy to say teachers who are unhappy should simply just quit? It will affect your kids.

I'm a maths graduate from a red brick uni. The teacher next-door to me was a maths graduate. They quit mid-year and the only person we could get to replace them was not a maths graduate and they are terrible. The kids are getting a really rough deal. But they were the only person to apply for the post.

Parents should be very worried about decent teachers quitting.